The Lord calm our storm

In today's first reading, we recall how the prophet Jeremiah faced tough opposition from false prophets that were present towards the end of the kingdom of Judah, as those false prophets tried to mislead the king and the whole nation for selfish reasons. The prophet Jeremiah constantly warned them that judgment and day of reckoning would come upon them with the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. Hananiah gave reassurance and hope, but unfortunately it was false reassurance and false hope. What Hananiah told the king and everyone was meant to earn him a good standing among the king and his council members and history has shown that, sometimes, such people were indeed possible to have been agents of the enemy, placed in the court of the king to sow confusion and undermine them before the enemy were to strike.

Through these, we are shown that to trust in man and in the world is futile and pointless, as none of these can compare to the Lord, His providence and everything that He has done for our sake. In today's Gospel, Jesus met His disciples in the middle of a great storm, walking on the water and the disciples were very afraid that their boat would sink due to the waves and wind hitting and rocking their boat. However, the Lord told them not to be afraid. As unbelievable as it might have been to them to see the Lord walking on the water, even to the point of thinking that they had seen a ghost, the Lord reassured them and said that it was indeed Him that they had seen. Peter asked the Lord that if that was truly Him, then he would be able to come to Him walking on the water. However, Peter doubted even as he miraculously walked on the water, proving that the Lord’s words are indeed true. The Lord helped Peter when he doubted and almost sank into the water, rebuking him for his lack of faith.

May the Lord restore the hope of the hopeless, calm the storm of our life and bring healing to our world! Amen!! Remain safe and have a fruitful week!!!